1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wet wipe comprising a porous sheet impregnated with an aqueous lotion and further including polymeric beads which are characterized in providing controlled release of a functional ingredient.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of treated cloths which are adapted for skin care are commercially available. Such products typically comprise paper or non-woven fabric sheets which are wetted with a aqueous solution of water soluble or water dispersible ingredients. The difficulty presented by these ingredients is that they are typically water insoluble or hydrophobic. It is well-known to incorporate hydrophobic cosmetic ingredients in the form of an oil-in-water emulsion. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,157, granted Dec. 17, 1985 to Smith et al, "Cosmetic Applicator Useful for Skin Moisturizing". The drawback of the oil-in-water emulsion approach is twofold. One is that these emulsions tend to be unstable; secondly, the chemicals which emulsify the hydrophobic materials also tend to keep such components from uniformly adhering to the human skin.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide hydrophobic functional ingredients in a wet wipe in a stable form.
It is a further object of the present invention to controllably release such functional ingredients when applied to the human skin or environmental surfaces.
Other objects advantages and novel features of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and appended claims.